One of my primary goals in creating this mapping interface is to design it for visual learners. Creating symbolic scale markers and putting a text based bread crumbs in a panel at the top of the map does not fulfil this goal sufficiently.
To make the bread crumbs and scale markers more visually oriented I propose a visual form of bread crumbs that can be shown in the side of the window. The visual bread crumbs panel will consisted of a series of thumbnail representations of the map at set scales. As the user diggs deeper into the map by zooming down to content nodes a series of map thumbnails are created documenting scale changes.
A visual reference of this form could serve as a valuable method of "grounding" the user as they leap about the map following along the paths of connecting lines between nodes. This would reduce potential disorientation and increase the ability of the user to know where they are in the map without having to zoom out to get their "bearings" (something i noticed beta users doing frequently).
2 comments:
Hello Paul.
Love the idea of visual bread crumbs, old school meets high tech.
It never ceases to amaze me how in this increasingly technical world in witch we live, it is often the straightforward simple idea that wins through. I find this particularly amazing when I know how much hard work, trial and error and time is spent in making these ideas work.
All the best, mike.
Trial and error is my middle name.
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